fiat in the us
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Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: General Mobile Electronics Questions and Answers
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=115499
Printed Date: May 10, 2024 at 11:30 AM
Topic: fiat in the us
Posted By: howie ll
Subject: fiat in the us
Date Posted: August 06, 2009 at 11:02 AM
!TERRIBLE NEWS! Fiat aims to relaunch Fiat and Alfa Romeo in the US market in 2011. Run and hide, don't worry when you turn the engines off you can listen to them rust.
Replies:
Posted By: joch1314
Date Posted: August 06, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Now that GM has cut most of their lines, it makes sense for them to try and get into this market. Are they really that bad? Hopefully I'll be finished with school so I can be done with working on cars for a living by that time, (tired of being upside down and losing my skin in dashes) but I know one is never TRULY done working on cars. ; ) ------------- ...half of the truth can be worse than a lie. <----Roger Russell said that..
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: August 06, 2009 at 3:06 PM
joch1314 wrote:
Are they really that bad?
Fiat = Fix It Again Tony I guess you are probably WAY TOO YOUNG to remember the infamous Fiat X 1/9 ------------- Let's Go Brandon Brown. Congratulations on your first Xfinity Series Win. LGBFJB
Posted By: joch1314
Date Posted: August 06, 2009 at 3:16 PM
I guess I was too young...but not "WAY TOO YOUNG" (1980) not really big into cars when I was that age...unless your talking hot wheels and TYCO R/C cars.
-------------
...half of the truth can be worse than a lie. <----Roger Russell said that..
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: August 06, 2009 at 4:53 PM
Promise not to laugh but I actually long term borrowed an X19 when they first came out, my pal was a Fiat dealer. Boy did they go round corners. Fiats are collanders, the electrical systems were S**t, whereas French electrics fail after 3 years, they failed after a year, Lancias were pulled from the UK about 12 years ago, they'd rust across the welds after 1 year, Alfa Romeos look lovely but take down an interior panel, if it doesn't break in your hands, you'll find its held in by a Torx, two phillips and a hex head bolt.
Posted By: lspker
Date Posted: August 06, 2009 at 9:37 PM
That was annonced on this side of pond 2 years ago, guess you must be watching CNN. I'd rather use 3 tools to remove a pannel then have the velcro let go and have then pannel fall down going over a bump. Been working on Fiats and Alfas (older stuff) for the last few years. There not that bad, and some are pretty to look at.
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: August 07, 2009 at 4:06 AM
Fabulous to look at, but extremely fragile, frankly over here the Golfs (don't ask me why, few Jettas, everything's a hatchback), Foci and to a lesser extent Astra sweep the market. Everything else is a long way back. The VW/Audi/Skoda and (European) Focus build quality is streets ahead of anything coming out of Italy or France. Having said that Renault have vastly improved recently but the electrics are vastly over complicated. I used a new Clio recently for a few days, 1.5 turbo diesel, 95mph cruising at 42mpg BUT electronic power steering, all over the place at speed. It wasn't CNN (boring and anti- Israel) it was Automotive News.
Posted By: lspker
Date Posted: August 07, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Just more money for us. It helps to have a spaghetti specalist to work on the wiring. Whish we had more hatches over hear, but appaerently you guys used them all up. Build quality and design quality has taken gaint step backwards. There are a few exception. As far as the electronic steering, did you have it in drunk driver limp home mode? cheers
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: August 08, 2009 at 2:56 PM
No I had the Clio in Howard thinking (wishing?) it was a Lotus Elise or TVR mode. Actually, a good mechanical is still quicker at speed and hard fast cornering, you know, the kinds of roads you (fortunately) don't really have any more in North America
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: August 08, 2009 at 5:37 PM
Howie and Admin, check out the second video listed on this page. We might not have many of them, but we do have at least one left. https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=tail+of+the+dragon&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701 Found some more roads near there also. There are a few clickable areas on this map. https://www.mindspring.com/~hume/motorcycle/area.html Admin, you ready to go yet? ------------- Let's Go Brandon Brown. Congratulations on your first Xfinity Series Win. LGBFJB
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: August 09, 2009 at 2:44 AM
Point taken, some roads do stick in the mind, I hated living in Florida some years ago, I almost longed for a hill or a twisty bend. Just to clinch this post, look up the Fiat Multipla on Wiki etc. About 03 model.
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: August 14, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Sorry to come back to this but I actually got suckered into working on one today, correcting someone else's install on a Fiat Stylo. A newish vehicle (about 3 years old) the size of a Golf/Focus. The glove box has the following:- 3 x 5mm hex bolts, 8 x T20, 1 x pozidrive. Steering cowl, 5 x 3mm hex head bolts (try getting them up past the three inch depth access holes, as I tighten up one, using a normal screwdriver, and remember I'm 63 next month with severe repetetive strain in my wrists with little leverage, I managed to shear the screw in half! The cowling over the battery and under hood cowl has 3 bolts which look like Bristol spline fixings (aircraft and some VW door hinge bolts), actually a 4mm (3/16") flat driver works perfectly! You wonder why I hate them?
Posted By: lspker
Date Posted: August 14, 2009 at 9:44 PM
We have Fiat 126P comming in next week. My supply of left over screws should be topped up. Happy birthday, suggetion for a gift, we have these neat little inventions over here called an electric screwdriver with interchanable tips. Hate them, no just have a gallon of wire before start working on one, just like those who build them. We build our roads nice and straight because we spend way to much time swerving around the idiots on them, and if your throw in a curve we're in deep .....
Posted By: howie ll
Date Posted: August 15, 2009 at 2:27 AM
Sarcasm will get you an instant reply, 3 x electrics, 3.5, 10.8 and 18 volts, all lithium and yes in my drill case are all the usual suspects, Trx, Philips posi, hex head , security bits and of course taptites. I go through philips and t20s like there's no tomorrow but I was making the point that I had to use a regular 3mm hex hand driver (left over from the old Nokia handset bases) because of access problems. Maybe Fiats fixings are made by Snap-Off?
Posted By: lspker
Date Posted: August 17, 2009 at 9:39 PM
No, they are using Chrysler parts now. Use once and hope it doesn't fall apart before the customer drive away. Maybe your hand streangth is improved by the transfer of electrons from all that equipment. Stil the odd broken screw beats broken clips, sockets and rattles. They use to say about British cars, if a part doesn't do at least three different things, it wasn't needed. The Italians take the opposite view, use at least five different kinds of screws so no one steals it.
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